FRIENDS OF ELYRIA PUBLIC LIBRARY SYSTEM BOARD MEETING

May 2, 2016

PRESENT: Nancy Baldauf, Cherie Fabian, Leo Kenzik, Marilyn Kenzik, Jane Leavell, Phil Lyon, Kathy Wainwright, Marcia Widman, Tim Widman, Carolyn Young

Staff: Lyn Crouse, Jen Harmon

Meeting called to order at 6:32 PM.

April Minutes

Jane Leavell pointed out that no one else noticed the draft of last month’s minutes was dated “March 7th.” Leo Kenzik moved to accept the revised minutes, and Cherie Fabian seconded. Motion passed.

Treasurer’s Reports

This month there were no expenses, and some memberships were received. We have a balance of $5,206.60. Interact will send up to eight children and two adults on Monday, May 16th at 7 AM to move approximately 500 boxes of books to St. John Lutheran, at an estimated cost of $125. Jane Leavell moved to accept the report, and Kathy Wainwright seconded. Motion approved.

Director’s Report

Lyn Crouse thanked us for our donation to the Foundation Event next Saturday night. She asked for feedback from those of us who participated in “Guess Who’s Checking You Out” and who visited the new bookmobile. Both events were educational and enjoyable.

Renovations are upcoming for both Main and West River. West River will get a second floor restroom, and the Ohio Room will move from Main to West River. Main will get windows in the Children’s area, and all departments other than the Circulation Desk will be shuffled around.

The Summer Reading Program promotional event will take place on Court Street in the square downtown on Saturday, June 11th at 10 AM, and FEPLS can put up a table to promote membership. A couple hundred people attended last year.

Old Business

The county Friends Exchange went well. We learned that Wellington sells art and Vermilion sells chocolate to raise funds for their libraries. Some Friends groups sell books monthly or every few months or by setting up carts in the library. Some sponsor programs to attract patrons and expose them to what we do.

New Business

Phil Lyon suggested that we invite Elyria friends on our Facebook accounts to join FEPLS.

It was suggested that we spend approximately $60 on an external hard drive to back up the Friends computer daily. Another suggestion was that the library do our back-up.

Nancy Baldauf, Tim Widman, Phil Lyon, and Jane Leavell will meet sometime next week to organize the computer files on the Friends computer.

We discussed taking 25 to 50 of the valuable books currently awaiting E-Bay sale to this year’s book sale, appropriately priced and safely displayed, to see if this would be a successful way to raise money. We would select sets or heavy books that would be expensive to mail to buyers, and would not sell the most valuable books, since shoppers at a used book sale would be unlikely to spend a thousand dollars on a book.

The next meeting will take place at 6:00 on Monday, June 6th at the Main library, to begin with a book sale meeting.

This meeting adjourned at 7:51 p.m.

Respectfully submitted by Jane Leavell.